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Last weekend, the Archdiocese of Sydney was blessed with two new priests – Fathers Thomas Stevens and Lewi Barakat.
Ordinations are always an emotional occasion, but this particular Ordination Mass had a significant impact on me.
In the weeks leading up to the Ordination, (then) Deacon Lewi had told me that the Ordination was not about him or (then) Deacon Tom, but about the Priesthood.
I didn’t really give much thought to his comment, and instead dismissed it as part of the humility so characteristic of him and other clergy.
Anticipation and Sorrow
I had really been looking forward to the Ordination of these two new priests because I have had the privilege of getting to know them, and am confident that they will be a true gift to our Church.
I was eagerly anticipating the weekend of the Ordination, which I knew would be filled with beautiful liturgies and wonderful celebrations.
But in the days leading up to the Ordination, my family was struck with a double tragedy in the sudden deaths of two close relatives, only days apart.
Instead of a week of joyous anticipation, it was a week of mourning.
The Ordinations to which I had been so looking forward had become irrelevant in light of the sorrow being experienced by myself and my family.
Or so I thought.
My aunt passed away on the Sunday before the Ordination. In the days before her death, she had been anointed by our parish priest, the same one who had said the daily Mass she attended for the last 13 years of her life.
He was there to comfort the family after her death, as were a number of Maronite priests who prayed with us in the evenings leading up to the funeral.
At her funeral on the Wednesday, our same parish priest asked those gathered to pray for my uncle, who had taken a turn in hospital and was gravely ill.
Unbeknownst to us at the time, the two priests who concelebrated the funeral went straight from the Church to the hospital, while the rest of us went to the cemetery.
My uncle passed away that afternoon. Continue reading
- Monica Doumit is the co-ordinator of Catholic Talk, a Sydney based group which offers a clear and charitable Catholic view on local and international news items.
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